“THE LAST MILE OF THE WAY”
2 TIMOTHY 4:1-8
KEY VERSES: 2 TIMOTHY 4:6-8
INTRO: In our text we have the final testimony of an old soldier of the Cross
who is about to take his departure for his heavenly home. The
apostle Paul said in v6—“For I am now ready to be offered, and the
time of my departure is at hand.” As Paul considers his life he looks
backs with no regrets. This conviction of the apostle that he was
about to die, is urged as a reason why Timothy should be laborious
and faithful in the performance of the duties of his office. His own
work was nearly done. He was soon to be withdrawn from the earth,
and whatever benefit the world might have derived from his
experience or active exertions, it was now to be deprived of it. He was
about to leave a work which he much loved, and to which he had
devoted the vigor of his life, and he was anxious that they who were to
succeed him should carry on the work with all the energy and zeal in
their power (Albert Barnes’ Notes On The Bible).
There is something very interesting about a person’s last words: A few
hours before Dwight L. Moody died, he caught a glimpse of the glory
awaiting him. Awakening from a sleep, he said, "Earth recedes,
heaven opens before me. If this is death, it is sweet! There is no
valley here. God is calling me, and I must go!" His son who was
standing by his bedside said, "No, no father, you are dreaming."
"No," said Mr. Moody, "I am not dreaming; I have been within the
gates; I have seen the children's faces." A short time elapsed and
then, following what seemed to the family to be the death struggle, he
spoke again: "This is my triumph; this my coronation day! It is
glorious!" A person is not really ready to live until he is ready to die.
It was a dark night in Marshfield, October 24, 1852. Daniel Webster
was dying. He was ready. His physician, a very sensitive man named
Dr. Jeffries had ministered as much medicine as he could and as was
practically possible. He realized that death was near and he chose to
be a friend rather than a physician at that moment and he picked up
an old rather well worn hymn book that Webster had often sung from
and he chose to read the words of one of his favorite hymns:
"There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel's veins,
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains."
He read every stanza, when he got to the last, Webster's lips were
moving, though no sound came:
"When this poor lisping, stammering tongue
Lies silent in the grave,
Then in a nobler, sweeter song,
I'll sing thy power to save.
And he looked at Webster, their eyes met, and Webster uttered three
final words: Amen, Amen, Amen!!” and he was gone. How different is
the broad road of the wicked. Kenneth Cober points out that the
worldly man's way of carnal desire terminates in frustration and
despair. Lord Byron abandoned himself to the pursuit of pleasure; yet
at the age of 35 he wrote: "My days are in the yellow leaf. The flowers
and fruits of love are gone. The worm, the canker, and the grief Are
mine alone." Compare those lines with the words of Adam Clarke, a
Christian saint and biblical expositor. At 84, he said, "I have passed
through the springtime of my life. I have withstood the heat of its
summer. I have culled the fruits of fall. I am even now enduring the
rigors of its winter, but at no great distance I see the approach of a
new, eternal springtime. Hallelujah!"
Someday each of us will say our last words. Let us turn our thoughts
to an old soldier’s farewell address, that of the Apostle Paul. There is
something in his words for each of us. Note with me three things:
(1) HE REMEMBERS THE PAST
2 TIMOTHY 4:7—“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my
course, I have kept the faith.”
A. He Did Not Look Back With Remorse. Many today near the end of
their lives look back with remorse over a wasted life. But Paul had no
remorse. Paul does not look back past his conversion which took place
on the road to Damascus. This is very important. Why did he not look
back and recall all those sins which as a lost man? Because:
1. He saw the Light (Acts 9:1-8). Saul, of Tarsus, who once walked in
the darkness of sin saw “the light of glorious gospel of Christ, who is
the image of God…To give the light of the knowledge of the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 3:4,6). Since that
day Paul had never been the same. He could say without remorse,
“For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day” (2
Timothy 1:12b).
ILLUS: Charles Swindoll in his book, Paul, A Man of Grace and Grit,
writes: For more than three decades Saul controlled his
own life. His record in Judaism ranked second to none. On
his way to make an even greater name for himself, the laser
of God’s presence stopped him in his tracks, striking him
blind. Saul and his companions feel to the ground,
stunned. For the first time in his proud, self-sustained life,
Saul found himself a desperate dependent. Not only was he
pinned to the ground, he was blind. His other senses were
on the alert, and to his amazement, he heard a voice from
say, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4).
Saul, who had never been under a blazing light or heard
such a magnificent voice, answered meekly and with
respect, “Who are you, Lord?” The answer hit him like the
blow of a stun gun: “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.”
There must have been several seconds of deafening silence
as Saul let in the wonder. Once that happened, he stopped
believing Jesus was dead. His rebel will was captured. His
journey reversed directions. His mind did a turnaround
that would ultimately transform him from the inside out.
That’s the essence of genuine repentance—the mind does a
turnaround. The Greek word is metanoia from the verb
metanoeo, meaning literally, “to change one’s mind.” That’s
precisely what happened to the once-proud Pharisee on the
road to Damascus. So many things within Saul’s thinking
changed—and changed completely. He changed his mind
about God, about Jesus, about the Resurrection, about
those who followed Christ…When Saul was converted, he
realized that the living Jesus, whom he had hated and
denied his entire life, was now his Savior and Lord (1).
2. His Sins were gone. All had been forgiven. What a glorious and
precious thought that when you bring your sin to Christ they will
not only be forgiven, but will be covered by the Blood, to be
remembered against you no more—EVER! Paul says of himself in
1 Timothy 1:12-15—“Who was before a blasphemer, and a
persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it
ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding
abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. This is a
faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came
into this world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” Paul could look
back without remorse and rejoice because his sins were gone! What
glorious comfort the Scripture gives concerning the believer’s sins
not only being forgiven but forgotten. Jeremiah 31:34b says, “I will
forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Hebrews
8:12 tells us, “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their
sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” And Isaiah 1:18
promises, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD:
though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though
they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
ILLUS: The Hymnwriter, N. B. Vandall wrote a song that should
reflect the joy of every forgiven Child of God. It goes like
this:
You ask why I am happy so I’ll just tell you why,
Because my sins are gone;
And when I meet the scoffers who ask me where they are,
I say, my sins are gone.
“Twas at the old time altar where God came in my heart,
and now, my sins are gone;
The Lord took full possession, the devil did depart,
I glad, my sins are gone.
When Satan comes to tempt me and tries to make me doubt,
I say, my sins are gone.
You got me into trouble, but Jesus got me out,
I’m glad my sins are gone.
I’m living now for Jesus, I’m happy night and day,
Because my sins are gone;
My souls is filled with music, with all my heart I say,
I know my sins are gone.
Chorus: They’re underneath the Blood, on the Cross of Calvary,
As far removed as darkness is from dawn;
In the sea of God’s forgetfulness, that good enough for me,
Praise God, my sins are gone.
(N. B. Vandall, All-American Church Hymnal, p. 216).
B. He Did Not Look Back With Revenge. Paul did not look back on all
the problems, the pain and the bad things that people had caused in
his life. Paul, in his life, was a man who was acquainted with sorrow
and grief. In fact the Lord Jesus told Ananias in Acts 9:16—“For I
will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.”
Paul testifies of his life in 2 Corinthians 11:24-28—“Of the Jews five
times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods,
once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have
been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of water, in perils of
robbers, in perils of mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in
perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils
among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often,
in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Besides
those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care
of all the churches.”
But not once in any of Paul’s letters do we see Paul seeking revenge
nor harboring bitter feelings toward anyone. A revengeful spirit leads
to bitterness. Some of the most miserable people you will ever meet
are those who have harbored resentment and revenge in their hearts
for many years! W. E. McCumber said, “The holy heart can be hurt.
But it answers injury with love and prayer and forgiveness” (2). Paul
did not seek revenge, but He was a man of prayer who exhorted us
in 1 Timothy2:1—“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications,
prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men.” It
is to hard to hold a grudge against someone when you are praying
for them!
C. He Did Not Look Back With Regret. He did not look back on his
failures with regret. Paul, as great as he was for God, had faults and
failures. He says of himself in Romans 7:18—“For I know that in me
(that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with
me; but how to perform that which good I find not.” Many do little for
God in the present because they live with the regrets of the past.
ILLUS: We are so good at doing things our own way. Then, when
they do not work out, we turn to God and say, "Help! Now
what do I do?" We are so foolish, for if we had read His
instructions in the first place, we wouldn't have had the
problem in the second place. "Thy Word have I hid in my
heart that I might not sin against thee." That's a powerful
thought!
The truth of the matter is that we are merely sinners saved by grace
and there will be times in our lives where we fail God terribly and face
defeat at the hands of the Wicked One. But we must keep going on
for God and not wallowing in regret!
ILLUS: An elderly lady was once asked by a young man who had
grown weary in the fight, whether he ought to give up the
struggle. "I am beaten every time," he said dolefully. "I feel I
must give up." "Did you ever notice," she replied, smiling into
the troubled face before her, "that when the Lord told the
discouraged fishermen to cast their nets again, it was right in
the same old spot where they had been fishing all night and
had caught nothing?"
Paul did not dwell on the bad things of the past. Paul said
Philippians 3:13—“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended:
but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and
reaching forth unto those things which are before.” Paul had reason to
feel guilty—he held the coats of those who stoned Stephen, the first
Christian martyr (Acts 7:57, 58). We have all done things for which
we are ashamed, and we all live in the tension of what we have been
and what we want to be. Because our hope is in Christ, however, we
can let go of the past guilt and look forward to what He will help us
become (3).
D. He Did Look Back With Remembrance. What did Paul remember
and look back on?:
1. He had been a good SOLDIER—“I have fought a good fight..”.
The figure is drawn from the Grecian games. Literally, "I have
striven a good strife." (The People’s New Testament Commentary).
Paul realized the real spiritual warfare that all Believers are in and
he says, “I have fought a good fight..”. Paul had on the whole
armor of God and he did not retreat, but kept marching forward
for the cause of Christ!
ILLUS: Newsweek (11/19/90) ran an article titled "Letters in the
Sand," a compilation of letters written by military
personnel to family and friends in the States during the
Gulf War. One was written by Marine Corporal Preston
Coffer. He told a friend, "We are talking about Marines,
not the Boy Scouts. We all joined the service knowing full
well what might be expected of us." He signed off with the
Marine motto, Semper Fi, Latin for "always faithful." The
Bible says, "Now it is required that those who have been
given a trust must prove faithful" (1 Cor. 4:2). -- Richie
Lewis in Fresh Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching
(Baker), from the editors of Leadership.
Paul was faithful unto death and so MUST we be also!
2. He had been a good STEWARD—“I Have kept the faith…”. "I
have kept my faith"; or have been faithful to my trust, as a good
steward of the mysteries of God; not concealing and keeping back
any thing that was profitable, but declaring the whole counsel of
God; and now what remained for him was the crown of
righteousness; and this he says for the comfort and
encouragement and imitation of Timothy and others (John Gill’s
Exposition of the Entire Bible). Paul says, “I have safely preserved,
as a guardian or steward, the gospel treasure committed to my
trust” (4).
3. He had been a good RUNNER—“I have finished my course..”.
The race of life set before him, his course of years; his days were
extinct, the grave was ready for him, and he for that; his last
sands were dropping, and he was just going the way of all flesh; or
else he means the course of his ministry, which he desired to
finish with joy, and was now finishing; Act_13:25 he was now got
to the end of his line, to Rome, where he was to be a martyr for
Christ (John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible). Paul had ran the
Race lawfully and loyally. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27—
“Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one
receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man
that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they
do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I
therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that
beateth the air: But I keep under my body and bring it into
subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached Christ
to others, I myself should be a castaway.”
As Paul walks THE LAST MILE OF THE WAY HE REMEMBERS THE PAST, and…
(2) HE REFLECTS ON THE PRESENT
2 TIMOTHY 4:6—“For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of